When it comes to beer, there are a ton of choices out there, with more being added everyday. Each month, we round up some of our fave new finds. Some of the brews we did full reviews on, while others are just special gems we found on tap while we were out and about that we think you should know about.
Check out our favorite beers from July here.
By no means a comprehensive list of everything new that came out in August (we can only drink so much!), here are some of our favorites that we’d recommend you grabbing a pint of while you’re out with friends, or picking up a few bottles of at your local bottle shop.
Discover something new this month that you absolutely love? Be sure to tell us about it in the comments!
Cascade Brewing Tangerine Dream
On the nose, you get oak, vanilla, and tangerine. At first sip it’s tart, but not overwhelmingly so. The barrel mellowed this one out nicely, and the rum rounds it out into a pretty easy-drinking brew, despite its hefty ABV. This one clocks in a 11%.
Dogfish Head Oak-Aged Vanilla World Wide Stout
On the nose, this wood and vanilla-infused version of WWS leads off strongly with a huge waft of vanilla, with fudgy cocoa following immediately behind. Reviewer Jim Vorel was immediately struck by the absence of overt booziness on the nose—I put it to my nose expecting at least a hint of rocket fuel, but the alcohol is quite well hidden in terms of aroma. Instead, we got tons of dark fruit and cocoa—like chocolate-covered raspberries.
Fruitage is Rodenbach’s latest offering. It’s the first time any Rodenbach beer has been available in cans in the United States (yesssss!), and it’s being sold in four-packs of 8.25 oz. cans nationwide. The beer is 25% Aged Rodenbach (two-year matured beer from oak standing Foeders) blended with 75% young Rodenbach ale, and then infused with cherries and elderberries. And Just like my Grand Cru favorite, it’s unbelievably delicious.
New Belgium Fat Tire Belgian White
The beer pours a hazy peach with a thin head that dissipates immediately. It has a fragrant nose, with lots of classic Belgian white notes like citrus and funk and something vaguely spicy. The body is creamy and delicate, thanks to the oats and wheat in the malt bill, and delivers an overall light and refreshing sip. There’s a subtle sweetness from the use of Seville oranges, something vaguely exotic that’s hard to place (this is the coriander at work) and a mild peppery element along with a little bit of funk. Fat Tire is an easy drinking beer that’s known as a gateway into craft beer for so many drinkers; FT Belgian White is just as user friendly.
Alvarado Street Brewing Spaced Out
For Spaced Out, Alvarado used “a blended yeast strain to drive tropical aromatics and flavor compounds.” The beer is dry hopped with cryo and traditional pellets, and includes Oregon estate heirloom barley and a good amount of Spelt to give it a “pillowy, chewy texture.” The result is an incredibly juicy IPA with pineapple, mango and orange notes that I couldn’t stop drinking.
Brasserie Blanc is fermented with Napa Valley Orange Muscat grape juice and then aged in oak wine barrels for 14 months with Brettanomyces claussenii. That grape juice makes this one interesting, and exceptionally drinkable. From the second the beer is poured, you get some of that muscat on the nose, along with citrus and other tropical fruit. The brett pairs really interestingly with the tart fruit, leaving you with a really well-balanced beer with a dry finish that just begs for you to take another sip. It’s light-bodied, but with a ton of flavor.
Union Older Pro Passionfruit Gose
Paste’s Jim Vorel says “This beer has a beautiful nose, with loads of passionfruit/apricot sweetness that is bright and inviting. You might perhaps call it less complex than the guava, but in another context it’s that much more focused. On the palate, the flavors are a bit bigger than in the guava, perhaps a touch sweeter and more assertive, with a corresponding bump in perceived tartness as well. As in the guava, the chardonnay barrel influence is quite subtle. It’s another fruit showcase, but a very clean and crowd-pleasing one.”
Sante Adairius Bright Sea Blonde
In his review this month, Jim says “Bright sea blonde is, at its heart, a Belgian blonde ale that was kicked up a notch in terms of complexity with the addition of lemon zest and grains of paradise, both in moderation. It was then aged in wine barrels with wild yeast, and the results are pretty sublime.”
This month we rounded up some great lime beers. One of those was Uinta’s Lime Pilsner. Graham Averill says “The Utah-based brewery adds actual fresh lime to their malty lager. It won a silver medal over in Australia in the fruit beer category, but whatever. Lime beers aren’t about awards.”
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None of us here at Paste were surprised to see Creature Comforts take home a #1 spot in our latest side-by-side tasting of goses—if anything, we’re surprised that this is the first time they’ve ever done so, despite plenty of impressive finishes over the last few years. Tritonia is certainly a deserving beer for the honor, though: It’s the ultimate summer refresher. It takes cucumber and makes it the star of the show, with a clean, incredibly refreshing cucumber note that shines through the beer from start to finish.